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In *totally* non-political move, anti-Trump NY Attorney General files lawsuit to dissolve NRA

In *totally* non-political move, anti-Trump NY Attorney General files lawsuit to dissolve NRA

Letitia James ran for office on a platform of ending Trump’s “illegitimate” presidency. The NRA lawsuit is a lashing out at the closest thing to Trump as James could get her hands on this close to the election.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1yj0NKSsuU

Letitia James was elected Attorney General of New York State on a platform of using the full power of her office to target “illegitimate” Donald Trump and those around him. She is the epitome of the politicized #Resistance prosecutor.

So it’s no real surprise that yesterday James teased a press conference for today with a “major national” announcement. Anti-Trump Twitter was abuzz that maybe this was it, she would indicte Trump and his companies.

No such luck. That would be too brazenly political even for James on the eve of the election. Instead, she settled for announcing she would seek to dissove the NRA.

Here is the Complaint (pdf) and AG Press Announcement:

In the complaint, Attorney General James lays out dozens of examples where the four individual defendants failed to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the NRA and used millions upon millions from NRA reserves for personal use, including trips for them and their families to the Bahamas, private jets, expensive meals, and other private travel. In addition to shuttering the NRA’s doors, Attorney General James seeks to recoup millions in lost assets and to stop the four individual defendants from serving on the board of any not-for-profit charitable organization in the state of New York again.

“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” said Attorney General James. “The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law.”

There have been a lot of reports of infighting and excessive spending by NRA executives, so there likely is some truth to the excessive spending allegations. Whether that meets the statutory standard for dissolving the entity is a very different question which will not be answered in the courts for years.

The NRA has responded:

But legalities aside, this is totally political. A lashing out at the closest thing to Trump as James could get her hands on this close to the election.

But it will backfire. It sends the signal, once again, that Democrats want to take your guns and remove any political opposition to get there. It undoubtedly will boost NRA membership and donations,and give Trump a talking point.

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Comments

legacyrepublican | August 6, 2020 at 1:07 pm

Freedom of Assembly is also a constitutional right along with the 2nd amendment.

The NRA ought to counter sue on the grounds of the NY AG trying to deny their Civil Rights.

casualobserver | August 6, 2020 at 1:26 pm

This is a headline grabbing folly. Bordering on stupid and a tremendous waste of time and resources. The way it was announced is a massive give away to that effect.

2smartforlibs | August 6, 2020 at 1:29 pm

Does she understand the NRA is a civil rights org?? Same as say the NAALCP.

Another libtard activist abusing the system.

Time to dissolve Letitia James’ Communist Party for private travel at taxpayer expense, using taxpayer funds to pay off victims of sexual harassment, falsifying public records, and obstructing justice by blocking investigations into illegal activities by Communist Party officials.

NRA was for protecting freed slaves in South during the days of Jim Crow. That was then..this is now although the Dem Party hasn’t changed stripes. She is just a modern SS-Sonderkommando putting a little color into the role.

The NRA diverted millions of dollars away from its charitable mission for personal use by senior leadership.

Interesting that she concedes that NRA does indeed have a charitable mission.

    DaveGinOly in reply to tom_swift. | August 6, 2020 at 3:39 pm

    The NRA does indeed give money to charities, but is itself not a charity, it is a non-profit. How it distributes its members’ money is, I would think, of interest solely to its membership and its board.

    OTOH, if certain leaders of the NRA have been abusing funds such that they have committed offenses that are actionable by a state’s AG, I would think those officers are liable, not the organization (and, by extension, the membership). I can see a forced removal of certain officers, and safeguards put into place against future abuses, but dissolving the NRA is strictly (and obviously) a political move, and an unlawful abuse of power by James, because the NRA is organized for political purposes and its main goals are political and completely lawful.

      ss396 in reply to DaveGinOly. | August 7, 2020 at 9:48 am

      The NRA-ILO, a branch of the NRA, is the political organization. It is not funded through the membership fees, but through direct solicitations for contributions.

      henrybowman in reply to DaveGinOly. | August 7, 2020 at 6:02 pm

      Like many politically oriented groups, the NRA maintains several separate operations: a 501(c)(4) membership group (“NRA,” fraternal, like the Rotary); a 501(c)(3) deductible “foundation” for one or more legally “charitable” purposes (often “public education,” aka propaganda, in the case of entities like the Brady Group; though the NRA’s helps fund actual public gun safety education courses and so is much more legitimate than many), and a no-exemptions political lobbying group (NRA-ILA).

      James is referring to allegations that LaPierre strongarmed the foundation into transferring money into another branch to cover a bunch of his bills.

There are times I start to believe that the opposition party actually conspires to keep the incumbent in the White House because they prefer the status quo. This is one of those times.

    hopeful in reply to broomhandle. | August 6, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    Agree. This can only increase their membership and sell more guns.

      henrybowman in reply to hopeful. | August 7, 2020 at 6:05 pm

      I don’t think it will sell more guns. Thanks to the Floydsters, there are hardly any guns left in stock at dealers already. Handguns and ARs evaporate as soon as they arrive.

This will go almost as well as State of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp. Remind us how that went again, NY AG James – please.

I would be interested in hearing from attorneys here about the legal theory involved here. If the issue is corruption by the leadership, isn’t the remedy up to the organization? That is, even if everything alleged factually here is true, is dissolving the organization an appropriate or even legally authorized remedy? I’m curious.

So if the NRA is tax-exempt in NY, I could see pulling their exemption. But isn’t there a first-amendment defense here on freedom of assembly and association?

Is the NRA incorporated in NY?

Anyway, this will bounce like a bowling ball, I’m sure, but I’m curious about the cause of action and the law involved.
Don’t know why – it’s all vain grandstanding.

    ss396 in reply to John M. | August 7, 2020 at 9:52 am

    That’s what I was wondering? How is the State of New York injured by what is alleged? Meanwhile, there was a suit of just that nature brought against the NRA leadership by its members not all that long ago. IANAL but the fact that the membership has proved themselves capable of attending to their own house-cleaning, and lack of injury to the State, makes me wonder how the has standing in the court?

      henrybowman in reply to ss396. | August 7, 2020 at 6:10 pm

      Yes, the whole cause of action here is that the NRA is chartered in New York. One might criticize that as a rookie move, but I’m pretty sure it happened back in the 19th century. The org was founded by a Union general, so incorporating in (say) Texas would have been gauche.

Connivin Caniff | August 6, 2020 at 1:58 pm

Yes, go after the individual scoundrels and miscreants, but don’t punish the innocent by dissolving the charitable association.

Jefferson Alexander | August 6, 2020 at 2:00 pm

I’m just down here waiting for Milhouse to chime in with his K-Mart law degree analysis on this one.

See, this is why our side is still losing the culture & info war with the left. We want to play touch football & worry about rules of engagement/risk analysis while they’re out hitting us with full tackle & radical tactics.

So we can’t sue to dissolve BLM (according to Milhouse & others), but they have no hesitation using warfare tactics in court to dissolve the NRA.

They push the envelope while we hide inside it.

Oh, I know…..they have no prayer of winning this case. And grown men had no chance of standing next to your underage daughter in a restroom, fitting room, locker room….until now. And no local elected official would commit political suicide by letting the city burn, setting the rioters free, and arresting citizens who try to defend themselves against the rioters…..until now.

Until we adopt their out-of-the box thinking, we will always be responding to them rather than going on the offensive.

While we come up with a hundred reasons why we can’t, they relentlssly say they can; they may lose….until they don’t; like nowadays. And we will continue slowly losing the war as society slips further into their abyss.

    Well said. Rather than analyzing the substance, we should be asking “Why is she doing what she is doing right now? What is the agenda that makes sense?” Marxists focus on process. Revolutionaries focus on process. Alinsky was all about process. Substance is a distraction for thinkers. By any means necessary say the Marxists/Democrats.

    Disagree that we need to do the same sorts of things. That is the recipe for total destruction of our republic.* What we need to do is insist on consequences for those who commit obviously political acts.

    For example, why is no one talking about FEC hammering DeBolshevik for using city money and personnel to draw a political ad on the street? While insisting that you should now be able to do the same gives some ability to push back, actually holding him accountable is the only way to stop it. There are already laws in place for this stuff. Let’s use them.

    Another example would be the shutdowns. The 5th Amendment clearly says that no one can take your property without due process. And the SCOTUS has said that denying your use of it is the same as taking it. So why have there been no 5th Amendment lawsuits that I’ve heard of related to “You want to shut me down? Pay up!”?

    Yes, in places where we can’t get the law enforced, then we should, as free citizens, impose the enforcement ourselves. But I don’t even see people trying.

    (* If you think the republic is already gone, then, by all means, have at it. But I still think you’re going the wrong direction to win the fight.)

      henrybowman in reply to GWB. | August 7, 2020 at 6:15 pm

      Why don’t we go after the evildoers using legal means? Because the evildoers control all the legal means.

      Only a moron would agree to a match in which all the refs are owned by the other team. But that is precisely how our government (to be fair, most governments) work.

      When we were a free country, living free was not much of a challenge. Today, living free often means living outside the “law.”

    Milhouse is a sometimes much-needed voice of clarity and reason. You may not agree with him, but he is rarely, if ever, contrary for the sake of being contrary. He brings interesting points of view to the discussion, and the comments section would be less interesting without him. (BTW, I certainly disagree with him myself. That does not prevent me from appreciating the value of his comments.)

    And just what “full tackle & radical tactics” do you think the Right can do and actually get away with in this case?

    The Left does not make an overt move until it has already positioned itself for a successful win. Oh, from time to time they might jump the proverbial gun, but they don’t just openly make “bold” moves based on the assumption that sheer audacity and righteousness will prevail.

Her legal basis for dissolution is contradicted by the pleadings. The NRA is a victim.

    Dennis in reply to puhiawa. | August 6, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    Yeah, seems like a class action suit brought on behalf of the members against the individual officials would be more appropriate. That’s what happens when senior executives of for-profit corporations are caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

    puhiawa in reply to puhiawa. | August 6, 2020 at 10:39 pm

    I see that much of the legal commentary is now saying the same thing. There is no precedent for an organization to be punished for misuse of funds by individuals within the organization where the organization itself was the victim via the pleadings.
    Then there is the fact that if the targeted spending was approved, the NY AG has no case. The NRA is not a charity and contributions are not deductible. It could have authorized travel and meals. Then a case for unauthorized spending should have been via a sworn complaint by a contributor (a remote possibility) or a complaint by the NRA itself. Of course a derivative suit is the norm in the case of misappropriation.
    Frankly, the present President needs to be retired with a pension of modest proportions. But this is not her business.

Here is the complaint:

https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/final_nra_summons_complaint_08.06.20.pdf

I am a NRA member. If the facts alleged are true, the management must have a real house cleaning.

The current managers should just resign and let members decide who should run the organization.

    David Lentz in reply to ParkRidgeIL. | August 7, 2020 at 9:25 am

    Does the NRA by-laws have a provision for a vote of confidence by the membership? If so, use it to remove the board members. If the NRA President has the power to fire the board, do so. The duty is to protect the organization.

      henrybowman in reply to David Lentz. | August 7, 2020 at 6:52 pm

      In 1977, the NRA experienced a membership “revolt,” led by a faction that recognized that the NRA had to move out of the age of Fudd issues and into political battle. LaPierre learned from the experience, and progressively changed the NRA bylaws and operating regulations to ensure that such a coup could never again occur. When convenient, his team ignored its own bylaws, playing political dirty tricks like publishing “do not vote for” lists of board nominees in the membership magazine (they lost a lawsuit over this, but didn’t care, since they won all their seats).

      In long-standing tradition, the NRA presidential succession had always gone to the first VP, then the second VP, then the third VP, in sequence, as new VPs filled in at the bottom. In 1996, the leader of the 1977 reforms was next in line for the presidency, when an amazing string of coincidences occurred, engineered by LaPierre and his pet PR group. Charlton Heston, a complete unknown within the NRA (except of course as an actor) was “acclaimed” to the “special” director seat reserved to be elected directly from the floor of the annual meeting. Despite the fact that he was a complete newbie to the cause (and in fact had agitated for “gun control” earlier in his career), this total newbie was magically elected first VP, bumping the reformer. Shortly after, he was elevated to the NRA presidency, a traditionally volunteer position, with a contract stupiulating that his “management company” (coincidentally, the very same PR firm contracted by LaPierre) be paid $20K/month for his service. After that, LaPierre had no speedbumps left in his path to control.

      Did you notice how when this all started to hit the fan, top officials of the org (including several directors, Chris Cox of NRA/ILA and Oliver North) were all cashiered as “traitors to the NRA?” Yes, yes, everybody was out of step but poor Wayne LaPierre, the only “principled” man in the room. All thanks to his carefully cultivated “maximum leader” bylaws.

I’m thinking I need to donate to the NRA and pick two/three more 2A Rights organizations to also join and fun, especially if they are willing to support the counter suit against the NYDA.

Any suggestions for good one?

Decentralize and mutual support are going to be key to surviving this. For every three of liberty they fell, we must plant a forest more.

    Dusty Pitts in reply to Voyager. | August 6, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    My Second Amendment Foundation life membership cost me a lot less than my NRA life membership — and I became an NRA life member decades ago when those were a lot less expensive than they are now.

    DaveGinOly in reply to Voyager. | August 6, 2020 at 3:54 pm

    I’m a member of GOA (Gun Owners of America) and a life member of SAF. I think they are both at least as effective as the NRA. Where the NRA lobbies, these other two organizations are more dedicated to the court challenges, and tend to be very successful. They don’t get the credit they deserve and a far less (in fact, to a large degree not at all) willing to compromise than is the NRA.

    I am not currently a member of the NRA (I left after they compromised on background checks, which have since been abused and expanded, as anyone with any sense knew would happen), and have not rejoined for some of the reasons cited by AG James. I believe the leadership is corrupt and they spend money unwisely and for personal aggrandizement. My first thought upon reading headlines was “join the NRA,” but after reading about the nature of the complaint, as politically-motivated as it is, I don’t necessarily disagree with the criticism. Of course, I doubt her authority to do anything about it – the board is elected by the membership and if the membership didn’t like how money is being spent they can elect new board members. But the attack is politically motivated, which is obvious by her stated intent to dismantle the organization rather than just shake up its leadership and require the NRA to put in place safeguards to prevent future corruption of its leadership. For that reason, I will seriously consider joining again.

    Grrr8 American in reply to Voyager. | August 6, 2020 at 6:08 pm

    Consider the Second Amendment Foundation and Gun Owners of America. We shouldn’t have all of our Second Amendment protecting eggs in the NRA basket.

    henrybowman in reply to Voyager. | August 7, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    I chose Gun Owners of America, a reasonably successful lobbying group. The Second Amendment Foundation is great, but their target is litigation — if there’s a major lawsuit in the works for them to get their teeth into, I’ll throw them a donation, but most of the time there isn’t. They also run a pure lobbying org (CCRKBA) but I find them much less effective than GOA.

    I also give regularly to a very effective NON-NRA-affiliated RKBA defense organization in my own state, and recommend others do the same if they have one (and maybe help form one if they don’t). Sad to say this is necessary because during LaPierre’s tenure, NRA-affiliated state organizations have been ordered to stand down on advocacy of pro-gun legislation in their states that NRA claims is “too soon” or “too radical.” Once our state’s politically-minded gun owners got rid of that millstone around our neck by forming a non-NRA state lobby, we got all those “too soon, too radical” laws passed, making us the #1 state for gun owners for the eighth consecutive year.

    My biggest gripe against LaPierre is that if he had done his damn job in the no-compromise way his membership deserved, I wouldn’t care how many suits he bought or how many interns he sugardaddied. But he deliberately compromised away our rights while living high off our money. So bye-bye, Wayne, and don’t let the claymore hit you in the ass on the way out.

    Join and contribute to your local/state 2A group, such as Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. These groups fight local gun grabbing politicians who can directly control your right to bear arms.

“In the complaint, Attorney General James lays out dozens of examples where the four individual defendants failed to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the NRA and used millions upon millions from NRA reserves for personal use, including trips for them and their families to the Bahamas, private jets, expensive meals, and other private travel.”

You guys don’t have a problem with that?

I mean it could be that executives at more politically correct non-profits are doing worse things and getting away with it. I don’t think that excuses the behavior alleged in the complaint.

    GWB in reply to Dennis. | August 6, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    Oh, I have a problem with what seems to have happened in the NRA recently. But this is also clearly a political stunt, not oriented on protecting the members of the NRA, but in destroying the NRA itself. It’s called lawfare, and the Dems do it all the time.

    Voyager in reply to Dennis. | August 6, 2020 at 2:42 pm

    First, innocent until proven guilty

    Second, punish the guilty, not the victims.

    This lawsuit seeks to punish the aleged victims. That, I have a problem with.

    Dusty Pitts in reply to Dennis. | August 6, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    If the allegations are true, those accused have committed criminal acts — so she’s filing a lawsuit instead to dissolve the entire organization?

    If she had the evidence on her side she would pound the evidence. If she had the law on her side she would pound the law.

    She’s just pounding the table.

    ecreegan in reply to Dennis. | August 6, 2020 at 5:28 pm

    If it turned out that Planned Parenthood leadership had been stealing from Planned Parenthood for years, do you think the NY AG would be trying to dissolve Planned Parenthood?

    Throw Wayne Pierre in jail — please. I mean, give him due process, certainly, but he’s guilty and it can be proven, so throw him in jail. Don’t punish the organization he stole from.

    randian in reply to Dennis. | August 6, 2020 at 8:39 pm

    I have a problem with it, if it’s true. Morever, if it is true, how did James get the financial records to prove it?

Are the SPLC and Open Society Foundation fair game?

In political circles, whether you love them or hate them the NRA is considered to have one of the best lobbying outfits around.

I am not a member of the NRA, but I agree this is a political hit job. That being said, the top leadership is way overdue for an overhaul.

As well, back when I regularly housesat for an NRA member I was appalled at the amount of mail that came from them. Maybe they’ve cut back since then, but during those times I kept thinking that a good amount of the membership dues were going to the USPS.

    The Friendly Grizzly in reply to p. | August 6, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    I was life member. The mail I got in any given month weighed pounds. Color printing on extra-postage size envelopes. Constant begging. Constant drum-beating. More fear-mongering than the SPLC,

    I soon realized they preach to the choir, rather than spend member money constructively.

      Unfortunately true.

        The Friendly Grizzly in reply to DaveGinOly. | August 6, 2020 at 4:29 pm

        There’s alslo the issue of all the suits the NRA board files. Armani in the first file cabinet, Brioni in the next, Brooks Brothers in the next…

      henrybowman in reply to The Friendly Grizzly. | August 7, 2020 at 7:14 pm

      In the NRA, the tail wagged the dog. The big money churn was not the NRA proper, but in its advertising agency, Ackermann/McQueen. AckMack put out the beg letters, the NRA got the money, and the money went back to AckMack through a series of sweetheart contracts.

      In fact, back in 1996, the Board was so concerned about the millions of dollars flowing out of NRA’s coffers to outside vendors, that they ordered LaPierre to sever ties with the main beneficiary of these payments, Ackerman McQueen. LaPierre reported back that he had fired Ack-Mac as instructed, replacing them with a company called the Mercury Group. It quickly came to light that Mercury Group was a wholly owned subsidiary of Ack-Mac, with all of the same people filling all of the same jobs and collecting the exact same payments from NRA.

      The whole, sleazy history is available here.

Let me first state that I am a full 2A supporter. Completely agree with Scalia’s opinion in Heller and with Thomas concurring opinion in MacDonald.

Secondly I cant comment on any of the allegations since I have not seen any financial information.

That being said, from my personal experience with several non profits, there is a significant and wide spread financial abuse in the non – profit arena, mostly in the form of excessive executive compensation, perks and payment of personal expenses along with cronyism. While the majority of time I see it in the left leaning non-profits, (girls scouts, PP, several climate action groups), the conservative organizations are not immune to similar abuses.

The allegations are remarkably consistent with abuses I see with progressive non profits. Dont be surprised if the allegations ring true.

BierceAmbrose | August 6, 2020 at 2:47 pm

Um, in a typical NYC overreach, they declared “an important national announcement” on this.

They just don’t seem to get that half the problem those deplorables have is being ruled from afar by people who they’ve never met.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/new-york-ag-make-major-announcement-deutsche-bank-turns-trump-financial-docs/

I’m intrigued that some analysists gaming out a Screaming-D’s nominee-shuffle post a Biden collapse, have Proconsul Cuomo-the-Younger, and CA’s boy kind as the short list.

The impulse to imperial over-reach is a feature, not a bug, it seems.

BierceAmbrose | August 6, 2020 at 2:49 pm

Interesting discussion of the NRA ongoing for years at TTAG. The thread on the initial announcement here:
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/breaking-new-york-attorney-general-files-suit-moves-to-dissolve-the-nra/

There’s already a response by the NSSF, reported there, with discussion:
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/nssf-statement-on-new-york-attorney-generals-attempt-to-shut-down-the-nra/

Christ, it’s like these idiots are working for Trump, they may as well buy a damn billboard WE ARE COMING FOR YOUR GUNS.

So is she also going to target the United Way, Susan B.Komen Breast Cancer Research Foundation and other lavish spendthrifts whose CEOs earn millions and live lives of splendor off of their organizations? How about the Clinton, Bush, Obama foundations? How about the Never-Trumpers? It’s a very long list.

    The Friendly Grizzly in reply to Pasadena Phil. | August 6, 2020 at 4:38 pm

    Don’t get me started on the United Way, or its evil doppelganger, the Combined Federal Campaign. I hated it when my enployers, or my division officers, said, “We WILL have 100% partitcipation…”

      I donated $1. It’s the CEO’s and VPs who were ambitious. The supervisors and middle managers were usually only interested in fulfilling the “100% participation” mandate. $1 got it done. What a scam.

      And most of the causes I used to donate to eventually succumbed to the Planned Parenthood shakedown. Good-bye Susan B. Komen and the Girl Scouts. (I’ll have to ask the Professor if he shares part of the LIF proceeds with PP.)

There are penalties for frivolous lawsuits, I believe.

I’m sure she filed this right after she filed lawsuits against the Clinton Foundations for the same things.

she could just scratch out NRA and insert Clinton Foundation and wouldn’t have to change much of the wording

The NRA was incorporated in New York Statre in 1877. The Aliinksy solution is to dissolve the New York corporation and reincorporate in Texas or Florida. Politics have changed since 1877 and New York State is no longer interested in helping freed slaves.

billable labor matters

Another bought and paid for Soros puppet.

Hotep.Maqqebet | August 6, 2020 at 4:39 pm

I want to be outraged about this. As a Lifetime Member of the NRA, I really do. However, my worry is that La Pierre and the NRA have made themselves a juicy target for just this sort of thing. Long ago they could have moved their registration from New York to Texas, for example. What are odds that the NRA leadership sees just this kind of political vendetta as a marketing coup. New York beats up the NRA, the NRA gets new members and donations and La Pierre gets a new private jet.
Pardon my cynicism.

This action by the light skin b.lack AG mirrors countless actions by the other light skin negro AGs and mayors and police chiefs of the communist democrat cult who slave away for their negro cred, being down for ”the struggle”.

The legal system in the USA does not work unless there is virtue and honor among the office holders. For the b.lacks, power to terrorize White People is the only purpose of the legal system.

While our complaints against the NRA from the membership side may have merit, we cannot let the pos soros prosecutor get the political scalp on our side. We must stop falling for this tactic. Wait til after the election and give membership four years to clean them up. Letting them take out the NRA would be disastrous. Plz do patronize the other groups, the competition is good for the NRA.

Grrr8 American | August 6, 2020 at 6:18 pm

Unfortunately, revelations over the past couple of years regarding Wayne LaPierre and his merry band of thieves would indicate that this (Soros?)AG has a viable case – in part.

I don’t want the NRA dissolved, but reformed with new leadership. But we have to assume that for this critical election cycle — we will either save our Constitutional Republic or go down the path of tyrannical Progressive-Soclalism — that the NRA is out of commission.

Support alternatives such as the Second Amendment Foundation and Gun Owners of America, and hope that they can fill the void, at least in part.

In the long run, this may be good news! It could enlighten “undecideds” to the fact that the Democrats are deadly serious about stripping away our Second Amendment rights, and help the righteous prevail in November. At the same time, LaPierre and others will be end up removed from the NRA, and it may be reformed.

Did they do this as a consolation prize for not being able to find anything on Trump?

Yeah, reminding the voters which party wants them disarmed should work wonders with all the blm action going on.

NRA isn’t incorporated in NY. It’s incorporated in Virginia. I don’t believe a NY court has jurisdiction to order dissolution.

    Dusty Pitts in reply to randian. | August 6, 2020 at 11:31 pm

    Incorrect. It is headquartered in Virginia, but incorporated in New York.

    The New York AG has been after the NRA for some time already, and I was confused too the first time I heard about it — I think sometime last year.

This goon along with the mayor and governor need to be recalled. These are dangerous people

Was it political? Heck yes!

I’m an Endowment Life Member and a NRA Basic Pistol Instructor. I am on first name basis with a number of the current members of the Board of Directors and all of the “dissidents” forced out with the exception of Ollie North.

However, I am of the feeling that James may have done all of us who wanted reform in the NRA a big favor. While she went a bridge too far – and I doubt she will get her wish of dissolving the NRA – if she can force out LaPierre and his coterie of grifters, she will have done the organization a big favor.

As to the comments above about just voting out BOD members, it just isn’t that easy. The Board is too damn large at 76 members with only 1/3 elected annually. Furthermore, you have to be a Life Member or 5 year continuous annual member to be able to vote. In most years, the number of eligible voters actually voting is in the 5-7% range. Moreover, the bylaws have now been changed to make it incredibly hard to vote out Wayne and impossible given how he has stacked the board with his loyalists.

If I were looking into a crystal ball, here is the outcome I foresee. First, the legal wrangling will go on for months if not years. Wayne’s Rasputin Bill Brewer and his law firm will make even more money on top of the over $54 million or so they’ve already gotten. Second, I see the NRA not being dissolved but Wayne and John Frazer out, the NRA pays a hefty fine, and assets of Wayne, Josh Powell, Woody Phillips, and John Frazer attached.

Finally, all those gun prohibitionists attacking the NRA who they perceive as hardcore 2A are in for a big surprise. In the gun culture, the NRA is seen as moderate and too willing to compromise. The rest of us are not.

    henrybowman in reply to John Richardson. | August 7, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    Amen.

    The Board is kept ridiculously large as a classic case of “executive capture.” The Board’s influence is kept extremely diluted, and the executives can pretty much do as they please.

    The number of people in the NRA who vote is small, and most of those vote the way the association magazine tells them to. Wayne controls the association magazine.

    I was an NRA member of long standing, a volunteer certified instructor for pistol and rifle who has taught hundreds of students over several decades. I left the association last year and diverted all my support to GOA and my own non-NRA state org — not over executive shenanigans, but over NRA’s increasing willingness to surrender my rights for no apparent reason. I have left the organization, but I damn well have not left the battle, nor do I intend to.

It looks like Letitia’s idea of how to deal with a hornet’s nest is to swat it with a baseball bat.